Investigators say a deputy shot the suspect after witnesses reported he was stabbing people outside his mother’s home on the Key Peninsula.
GIG HARBOR, Wash. — A morning call about a no-contact order violation on the Key Peninsula escalated in less than an hour into a mass stabbing that killed four women, including the suspect’s mother, before a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy shot the suspect dead, authorities said.
The violence on Feb. 24 left behind two linked investigations and a larger public debate over response, timing and warning signs. Authorities identified the four women killed as Zoya Anatolyevna Shabliykina, 52; Joanne Kathleen Brandani, 59; Stephanie Killilea, 67; and Louise Sandra Talley, 81. The suspect was identified as 32-year-old Aleksandr Aleksandro Shablykin. Officials have released a broad timeline, but many of the most important details remain under review, including the exact movements of the victims and the status of the order deputies were trying to serve.
The first official time stamp came at 8:41 a.m., when the sheriff’s office said a call reported an order violation in progress at a home in the 14000 block of 87th Avenue Court NW. Deputies learned the adult male at the home was the subject of a no-contact order, but that the order had not yet been served and therefore was not legally active for enforcement. They obtained paperwork to serve it anyway and headed to the address. Then, at about 9:30 a.m., dispatchers began receiving multiple witness reports that a man was stabbing people outside the home. A deputy arrived alone. Three minutes later, according to the sheriff’s office, shots were reported. By then, three women and the suspect were dead at the scene. A fifth person, later identified as one of the women, was rushed away by Gig Harbor Fire and subsequently died. Officials said the deputy confronted the suspect while he was still stabbing people.
The identities of the women changed the public understanding of the case from a raw emergency scene to a specific community loss. Shabliykina was the woman who had previously sought court protection from her son. Brandani and Killilea were commissioners on Gig Harbor’s arts panel, part of the volunteer network that helps shape local grants and cultural work. Talley was an 81-year-old volunteer remembered by area organizations for years of service. Authorities have said the three women were attacked after they intervened or tried to help. At least one local account said they were together that morning, possibly while taking Talley to a medical appointment. Officials have not yet published a full narrative confirming the exact order in which each woman encountered the suspect. The medical examiner later said all four died from multiple sharp force injuries, and each death was ruled a homicide.
The backstory in court records suggests the danger did not come without warning. Local reports say Shabliykina obtained a one-year protection order in May 2025 and told the court her son had mental health and substance abuse problems, had made threats and had become frightening to her. One threat later repeated in coverage was that her grave had already been dug. After the killings, family members described the event as tied to bipolar disorder and said Shablykin had stopped taking medication. Those accounts offer a window into the family’s struggle, but they are not a substitute for formal findings. Investigators have not publicly declared a motive, and they have not released records showing whether there were recent efforts to renew or reserve the order, whether deputies had prior contact with the suspect in the days before the killings, or what exactly led him to arrive at the home that Tuesday morning.
Because the suspect was killed at the scene, the main legal and procedural questions now sit outside a traditional murder prosecution. The Pierce County Force Investigation Team is reviewing the deputy’s use of force and the surrounding facts. That review is expected to include witness interviews, dispatch recordings, forensic evidence, trajectory and scene analysis, and any available body-camera or radio material. There may also be attention to administrative questions about service of the no-contact order and whether any missed opportunity existed before the attack unfolded. Officials have not provided a date for the completion of the review. There is no scheduled criminal hearing against the suspect, but public records requests, medical examiner files and future agency statements could shape what the public learns next. In a case with no living defendant, the investigative report may become the closest thing to a final public accounting.
The aftermath has been marked by visible mourning. Vigils in Gig Harbor brought together residents, local officials and chaplains who spoke not only about fear but about the women’s long ties to the area. Mayor Mary Barber said the tragedy defied easy explanation. Chaplain Gary Rudd said the victims were known and loved across the community, and mourners stood beside displays of flowers and photographs. The emotional focus was not only on the deaths but on the way they happened: neighbors and civic volunteers drawn into violence while trying to help. In many cities, a quadruple killing is defined mainly by crime statistics and court filings. Here, it has also been defined by names familiar from city meetings, volunteer shifts and local events, making the loss feel immediate to people who never stood on 87th Avenue Court but still knew the women’s work.
The official outline of the attack is now public, but the fuller account is still incomplete. As of March 26, investigators have not announced when their review will be finished, leaving the next milestone to be the release of additional findings on both the stabbing timeline and the deputy-involved shooting.
Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.